


All He Needed

by Eliya



Category: X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Coma, Established Relationship, Hurt, M/M, Medical Procedures, not much comfort, powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-19
Updated: 2014-12-19
Packaged: 2018-03-02 05:13:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2800844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eliya/pseuds/Eliya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charles isn't sure how much more he can take.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All He Needed

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story reflecting what I've witnessed today with my parents. As of today, this moment, my dad is facing a potential coma due to post-stroke surgery.

“You’ll be alright, Erik,” Charles whispered, his voice garbled by choking down tears. He wrapped his shaking fingers around Erik’s limp hand, giving it a desperate squeeze.

Erik had been in a coma for four days, a result of a battle against another group of Shaw’s experiments. One of them had been a regenerating telepath, extremely well-trained and ruthless. She seemed to be the one with the command to shut down Erik Lehnsherr, and had Charles not interfered, she would have succeeded.

He looked so small, lying in the polycarbon hospital room. Hank had designed it especially for him so spikes in brain activity wouldn’t affect any of the equipment. Metal was strictly prohibited inside the room, according to Hank, but Charles wore the small metal wristband Erik had given him anyway.

“Charles,” Hank said quietly from the doorway. “It’s time.”

The telepath nodded and said, “Yes, a few moments, Hank, thank you.” He didn’t need to look to know that Hank had left him his privacy.

Like every time Charles seated himself beside Erik’s bed, he wrapped his mind around Erik’s in a protective embrace as if they were physical entities. From every point of mental contact, Charles sent sparks of energy, thoughts of warmth, love, hope, frustration, patience, fear. He tried to talk to him with emotions instead of words or images, but there was no response, and Charles had no reason to be expecting one.

Shaw’s telepath had locked down so many of Erik’s activity centers that Charles wasn’t even sure Erik would be the same once he wakes up ( _Once_ , Charles would fiercely tell himself, not _If)_. Physiologically, he knew Erik was in comatose because the tiny section that kept him conscious had been displaced. He knew the only answer was surgery, seeing it clearly when the swelling in Erik’s skull was nearing critical level. Charles couldn’t even fathom what kind of mutilation the telepath had done to Erik’s mind, distorting it so badly that she had physically moved his consciousness center. Again and again he had tried to stimulate that tiny spot, but his ability couldn’t nudge it back in place.

Charles pushed himself up onto the bed, taking care not to disturb any of the wires attached to Erik. He felt the silence in the room close around him, aching to be filled with Erik's voice. "Please," he begged. Fiercely trying to blink away his tears, Charles traced the lines of Erik's mouth with his fingers, mapping them out almost from memory. He knew every single scar that marked his face, every single crinkle at the corner of his eyes, and feared, he feared with his  _life_ that he may never see Erik's sarcastic smirk light up his face once more.

Charles sobbed and tightened his mental grasp on Erik, mirroring his fingers’ hold on his hand. He pressed his lips to Erik’s knuckles, then kissed his fingertips one by one. With a sudden wave of sadness, he remembered the last time those fingers gripped his waist, the last time they held him so tightly and refused to let go.

“I’m right here, Erik,” he said, his voice cracking. “I’ll be right here when you wake up, as well.”

The surgery was high-risk. Even expert surgeons would be walking on unknown territory since the brain damage had been caused by a telepath, not just some physical anomaly. Charles was to be there should they encounter traces of the telepath in Erik, but only behind closed doors. It was a precaution he made for himself afraid he might accidentally hurt one of the people in the operating room with Erik only a few snaps away from death.

Charles sensed Hank’s mind nearing, returning to bring Erik to the operating room.

Tears stained his face as he stood up, dripping onto Erik’s cheek. He tenderly wiped it away with his thumb, the way he had the first time Erik had told him about his childhood. “You’ll be alright,” Charles said almost inaudibly, projecting without even trying.

Shaking, he placed a salty kiss on Erik’s brow.

“You’re such a beautiful creature, Erik,” Charles choked out. “I love you so, so much.”

Erik lay still and his mind did not respond.

“Professor,” Hank said gently.

“I know.”

Charles watched, feeling empty as Hank reeled away the bed. Numbly, he followed them to the room, stopping at the doors.

The doctors went about with their procedure, Charles’ consciousness loosely encasing Erik’s like a safety net. Twice he heard the urgent beeping of the heart monitor, indicating Erik going into fatal condition, but after a few seconds of hopelessly willing Erik to fight, the sound would slow to its andante beat. Charles would feel the light, careful prodding of the surgeons’ instruments on his own mind, all the while curling around Erik’s memory centers, hoping for some sort of flicker.

An hour later, the doctors gave a sigh. They were closing up Erik’s cranium, but they had not found any improvement of his state. Once they had finished, Hank brought his bed back to the room. Charles trailed behind, a robot barely registering his surroundings.

Charles returned to his place at Erik’s side.

 _Erik_ , he tried weakly. He couldn’t bear much more.

 _Erik_ , he said again. No answer.

With a wounded cry, Charles clutched Erik’s hand and buried his head in the arch of his neck and wept. _Erik, Erik, Erik,_ he repeated, a mantra, the lines between speech and thought blurring.

 _Erik_ , Charles whimpered hours later. He squeezed Erik’s hand again.

_Charles._

 


End file.
